Reiter's Mobile TV Report

Reuters reports users prefer mobile video apps, not broadcast TV

Reuters headlines its article, “Apps a nail in coffin of broadcast mobile TV,” suggesting that cellular users prefer to pick and chose individual TV programs/channels and movies rather than accepting the traditional broadcast TV model with bundles of programs.

The article sees the future for mobile TV as downloading applications for specific video services, such as the apps available via Livestation (see below). 

Reuters notes that a survey by KPMG and the Mobile Entertainment Forum showed almost 40 percent of consumers had watched video on their handsets, and that 52 percent said the experience was “satisfying” compared to 38 percent of a much smaller number of consumers who had tried broadcast mobile TV.

What’s interesting to me is that only about half of the consumers had a satisfying experience downloading videos, which isn’t a particularly impressive number.  It’s not a statistic to be proud of.

Testing options

Reuters reports that handset manufacturers are testing different options.  For example, Samsung and Sony Ericsson are offering full length movies, Apple’s iPhone can download TV shows (and movies) and Nokia is working with the creator of the TV program “Heroes” to produce a cellular project for launch this summer on the Ovi Store.

Ben Wood, the research director at CCS Insight, says, “Old-fashioned broadcasters who are wedded to the old broadcast model have the biggest challenge because those days are over; consumers expect their favorite content when they want it, on whatever platform is most convenient — TV, PC or a mobile phone."

If this concept is indeed valid — and it remains to be seen — it doesn’t bode well for, as an example, Qualcomm’s FLO TV, which broadcasts regular TV programs on handsets, although not necessarily at the same times they are broadcast on the networks.

Wired says: "Americans don't care about mobile TV"

Wired has published an article headlined, “Americans Don’t Care About Mobile TV” that discusses why mobile television hasn’t done very well in the United States.

The problem, the article concludes, isn’t technological, but cultural, although technology is a problem, too.  For example, Americans mostly commute by car (although, of course, many use public transportation) and can’t watch (or shouldn’t watch) mobile TV while they’re driving.

The compares to the Japanese, many of whom spend one hour or two each way commuting via public transportation.  Wired says Americans want to watch television on their large-screen TVs, not on tiny phone screens.

Target audience will pay

Flint Pulskamp, program manager for IDC’s wireless semiconductor research group, says a small percentage of people want to watch mobile TV and are willing to pay for better image quality, such as Qualcomm’s FLO TV network.

He says the studies indicate the target audience for mobile TV is willing to pay $15 a month to avoid advertising and obtain good quality images.  Hmmm, if he’s implying that means FLO TV, the programs certainly aren’t commercial-free.

Pulskamp also notes that some studies say the mobile TV business must offer free, ad-supported programs.  Perhaps he’s thinking about members of the Open Mobile Video Coalition who are developing free, ad-supported channels using their existing broadcast TV spectrum.

I disagree about payment plans

“Regardless, free-over air [broadcasts] will likely have a very slow uptake, and the very limited number of phones with tuners will make it even slower,” he says in Wired.  Pulskamp says Americans probably will be relegated to ordering individual shows via video on demand, rather than paying a flat monthly fee for unlimited access to bundles of programs. 

I don’t agree with that.  Americans prefer a flat monthly fee for unlimited service — for most mobile services — rather than having to buy things individually.  That’s not always the case, of course, as, for example, iTunes has demonstrated with with people ordering individual songs.

Tuong Nguyen, the lead mobile TV analyst for Gartner Research, isn’t any more optimistic than Pulskamp.  He says, “Remember those portable TVs from the ’80s?  How many people [in America] had those?  And that was free.

“Now, they want 15, 30, 40, or 50 bucks to watch it on a two-inch screen.  Are you kidding me?”

A bit overboard

Nguyen is going somewhat overboard on pricing.  Most mobile TV is $15 a month to $30 a month, although the price can be more if a subscriber picks more mobile TV packages from, for example, Sprint. 

Sprint offers a bundled packages for a flat monthly fee, but it’s also possible to add more subscriptions.

Mobision TV in Iraq looks to offer mobile TV in other countries

Mobision TV (see left), which launched mobile television service in Iraq in May (as I’ve written), would like to expand its business to other countries, according to Andre Abi-Nassif, the senior vice president of Mobision and deputy general manager of Alsumaria TV, the satellite TV network providing content to its Mobision venture.

Abi-Nassif e-mailed me that Mobision is ready to develop mobile TV services to provide up to 20 channels, including subscription management using SMS, for DVB-H systems.  In Iraq, Mobision offers about 20 channels, requires a Mobision-supplied microSD card and sells the service with several prepaid plans.

Video/porn downloads congest Japanese cellular networks, forcing data caps

The huge amount of bandwidth used by Japanese cellular subscribers downloading so much video, including, apparently, lots of porn, is forcing Japan’s cellular operators to implement bandwidth caps on their formerly unlimited data plans, according to Reuters.

The article says because of network congestion, NTT DoCoMo and KDDI have to impose limits on their heaviest users, and Softbank, the third largest Japanese operator, is considering data usage limits.  Because of privacy regulations, the cellular operators say they don’t know what videos their subscribers are downloading, but they will admit porn probably is one category, Reuters reports.

However, major Japanese porn Web sites, such as Soft on Demand (see below), aren’t reticent about saying that downloads to cellular phones are increasing, and the market is still in the early stages.  Hirotaka Ishimori, the head of Soft on Demand’s online division, says revenues from the company’s cellular site — which offers free sample videos and DVD sales — is 15 million yen ($161,235) a month.

Cellular porn to increase dramatically

Reuters says, “Global revenue from pornography on mobile devices will more than double to $4.9 billion in the five years to 2013, while music sales will grow by about a third, said Juniper [Research], which provides global research on the telecommunication industry and includes Finland’s Nokia Oyj, the world’s largest maker of mobile phones, Apple and Microsoft Corp. among its clients.”

Cellular subscribers in the United States who look for porn videos to download can find it, although it doesn’t seem to be a major problem for U.S. operators.  At least, they aren’t talking about it; it’s an embarrassment.

In 2001 I moderated and put together for the CTIA’s Wireless annual conference what might have been the first panel in the country to discuss the potential problems of porn in the U.S.  The panel sparked CNET News to write about the subject before the meeting was held.

DigiTimes stirs excitement over microprojectors in cellphones, MP3 players

Based on an unsourced article in DigiTimes, the blogosphere today is somewhat agog over the possibility of Apple and some other handset manufacturers integrating microprojectors into their products by the end of the year.

DigiTimes’ brief article reports the Taiwanese company Foxlink is developing microprojectors in cooperation with a handset vendor in Europe “according to sources with Taiwan handset makers.”  Foxlink has sent samples to the handset vendor, which might result in shipments in the fourth quarter of this year.

“International brand vendors, including Nokia, Samsung Electronics and Apple, reportedly all plan to launch handsets with built-in microprojectors by the end of this year, indicated the sources, adding that Foxlink is likely to benefit from the emerging trend due to its strong business relationships with Nokia and Apple,” DigiTimes reports.

Skeptical about Apple

I have written previously in this weblog and on other sites that I believe microprojectors will be significant to the development of mobile television/mobile video as well as valuable for a variety of business uses.  I’ve been surprised to see microprojectors integrated into a handful (one or two) of cellular phones this year because I thought only external microprojectors would be offered in 2009.

I don’t know whether integrated microprojectors will be available this year in brand name cellular phones, but I’m skeptical they will be offered by Apple in either the iPhones or iPods.  As Harry McCracken writes in Technologizer, “Projectors may be getting tinier, but they aren’t yet teensy enough to cram into a phone or MP3 player that’s as thin as the ones Apple likes to make.”

He also says, “Apple history shows that it’s not all that interested in adding exotic features that won’t be used much, and is almost never the first company to embrace a new technology.  (It tends to cheerfully sit on the sidelines while other companies make bleeding-edge products that are noble in their ambitions but frustrating in practice.)”

Microprojectors will become standard

I agree with those statements, but not with McCracken’s view about “how often would a real person want to project an image from an iPhone or iPod in the real world?”  My view is “very often.” 

I believe microprojectors inside high end phones will become a standard feature within a few years.  But the price, battery life and screen resolution must be good for mass market appeal.

If I were in the mobile TV business, I’d do whatever I could to encourage the development of integrated microprojectors.  External microprojectors that connect to a phone or other electronic device via a cable or wireless won’t  produce mass market interest.

ATSC raises Mobile DTV status; formal standard perhaps in September

The Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), the standards body working on the protocol for Mobile DTV, has increased the classification from “candidate” to “proposed standard” status, reports Broadcasting & Cable.

Officially designated the ATSC-Mobile/Handheld standard, it is being promoted by members of the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC) to provide mobile television to cellular phones and other electronic devices by using TV broadcasters' existing spectrum.  All that remains for Mobile DTV to become a formal standard is a vote by ATSC’s entire membership, which could occur next month, the article says.

If the vote is favorable, the standard could become official in September.

ION’s Mobile DTV

As I wrote, ION Media Networks in late June launched Mobile DTV in New York City and in a suburb of Washington, D.C. (Manassas, Va.).  Other Washington, D.C. area stations are slated to begin broadcasting the mobile TV signal this summer.

Commercial Mobile DTV service is expected to begin late this year or in 2010.

NTT DoCoMo buys 35 percent of video software company Packet Video

From mocoNews.net I see that the Japanese mobile telecommunications giant NTT DoCoMo has purchased 35 percent of the multimedia software company Packet Video for $45 million, according to Packet Video’s press release.

Packet Video has been working with DoCoMo since 1998, and its multimedia player software, pvPlayer, has been incorporated in more than 90 of the cellular operator’s phones, the press release says.  As mocoNews.net notes, Packet Video is part of Nextwave Wireless, which has been under financial pressure and appears to be making Packet Video its flagship product.

I wrote in late June that Qualcomm’s FLO TV says it will offer a keychain-sized device that receives FLO’s mobile television signal and relays it to WiFi-enabled devices.  That way, cellular phones and other electronic devices that aren’t specifically designed for FLO would be able to play the mobile TV programs.

Qualcomm hasn’t released the name of receiver’s manufacturer, but as I wrote in the article, Packet Video was developing that type of device.  I don’t know whether Packet Video is the company supply the receiver, but it’s worth mentioning.

Digital Production - Middle East reports on mobile TV in Middle East

Digital Production – Middle East has published a detailed article about developing mobile television content in the Middle East.  The article discusses such companies as CNBC Arabia, production and distribution company A2 Avalon and content aggregator Info2Cell.

I’m sorry, but I don’t have time to write more about it.  If you’re interested in mobile TV content development, especially in the Middle East, it’s very well worth reading.

ION executive says Mobile DTV greatest financial potential since 30-second ads

John Lawson, the executive vice president at ION Media Networks, says mobile television employing the ATSC Mobile DTV protocol “represent[s] the biggest financial upside for the television broadcasting industry since the invention of the 30–second spot,” according to Broadcasting & Cable magazine.

“We see tens of millions of mobile DTV users in a few short years, an audience much larger — and much younger — than the remaining over-the-air viewer base today,” Lawson says.  Lawson certainly isn’t a disinterested observer; just a few days ago ION launched Mobile DTV in New York City and in Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C., as I wrote.

ION is a founding member of the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC), which promotes the Mobile DTV standard.  Also, Brandon Burgess, the chairman and CEO of ION, is the president of the OMVC.

ION’s Chapter XI

ION certainly would like mobile TV to become a big money-maker.  A few weeks ago the company filed for Chapter XI, and its financial status is unclear.

As I previously wrote, ION’s DTV effort is part of the company’s “triple play” offering for which it also launched a regular high definition channel and two digital networks.

Apple features commercial about iPhone 3GS' video recording, editing

Apple has produced a 30–second commercial of a skakeboarder that highlights the video recording, editing (see below) and uploading capabilities of its new iPhone 3GS.

The quality of the iPhone 3GS’ video recording has been getting rather good reviews.  As with many bundled iPhone capabilities, video recording doesn’t have many (to say the least) bells and whistles, although it’s very simple to shoot, edit and send a video, either as an e-mail attachment or uploaded directly to YouTube (see above left).

I’ve used video editing programs on a variety of high end camera phones, especially Nokia Nseries (courtesy of Nokia's blogger relations program), and editing isn’t always intuitive, especially to users who have never done it before.  Apple’s bundled video editing software doesn’t do much, but the very lack of features combine with the touch interface makes it pretty simple to delete frames and transmit.

There’s no doubt many iPhone users will be shooting and uploading videos.  I also assume software developers will offer more advanced iPhone video editing applications.